The present invention relates to computer systems that are capable of running multiple programs. More particularly, the present invention relates to computer systems that unify the search strategy and share search output data across multiple program modules.
Many application programs sold in the marketplace today have internal search engines that enable searches for specific words or phrases or both. Further, many application programs sold in the marketplace also permit searches to be conducted by searching for information by categories. However, each search engine of a respective application program is typically unique to that specific application program.
For example, an application program designed as an electronic dictionary may have a different search engine relative to another application program that may be designed as an interactive electronic encyclopedia. If the dictionary application program and the encyclopedia application program are installed on a single computer system, separate searches for similar information content would be necessary since the search engine of each application program does not communicate with another respective application program. In such a scenario, search strategies specific to each application program must be learned. Further, results for a search are only displayed when a respective application program is launched or is active.
In addition to the problem of separate and unique search engines, the conventional art typically does not have any mechanism for reducing processing time and conserving valuable dynamic memory resources if a previous search entered into a search engine is replicated. In other words, it is common in searching that search terms will be replicated when it is discovered that more information is related to a first search query compared to that of a second search query. For example, if a search was being conducted on a specific topic, such as fox wildlife preservation in the United States, a number of search terms could be entered into a text application program such as an electronic dictionary. The electronic dictionary would then produce search results unique to its search engine. After trial and error, a unique combination of search terms may yield larger search results compared to other combinations of search terms. If the combination of search terms that yields the highest number of search results is replicated, then the dictionary application program typically must re-execute or perform the search again. Such a re-execution of a previous identical search adds to processing time and consumes valuable dynamic memory resources such as DRAM or RAM.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and system for unifying search strategy and sharing search output data across multiple application programs that makes information across multiple separate application programs more readily accessible. There is a further need in the art for a method and system for unifying search strategy and sharing search output data such that search results from application programs other than application programs currently in use can be obtained. A further need exists in the art for a method and system for unifying search strategy such that search queries can be executed across an entire set of application programs that can be active or inactive. Further, there is a need in the art for a method and system for unifying search results such that search results can be generated without launching inactive application programs or switching to active application programs that may not have a focus on a display device. Similarly, a further need exists for a unified search strategy across multiple application programs that also provides a consistent user interface for searching and that eliminates the learning of multiple search techniques dependent upon a unique search engine of a respective application program.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problems by providing a user interface that can search information across separate programs. The user interface can display search results from programs that are not currently in use when a search is initiated. Upon selection of a search result, the program supporting the selected result can be launched if it is not already in use and can become the active program. Once the program supporting the selected result becomes active, the search result can be pre-populated within the program.
Conventional search engines typically limit their searches to a single active application program. Therefore, in addition to launching multiple application programs, the conventional search engines require that the query text of a search be re-typed for each search engine of a particular application program. This, in turn, requires that the user become familiar with the search strategy of each search engine of a particular application program. In contrast, the present invention can substantially eliminate the re-keying of query data while substantially increasing efficiency by providing a single user interface that has uniform search strategy.
The present invention can also increase search engine efficiency by sharing search results between programs without requerying. In other words, if a first search is made in a first program and an identical second search is subsequently attempted in either the first or a second program, the results of the first search will be shared with either the first or second program, the second search need not be executed for this unified search strategy. Such sharing of search results within a program or between separate programs can reduce processing time while conserving valuable memory resources.